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Breakdancing
B-boying or breaking, commonly called breakdancing, is a style of dance that evolved as part of hip-hop culture among Black and Latino American youths in the South Bronx of New York City during the 1970s. It is danced to both hip-hop and other genres of music that are often remixed to prolong the musical breaks. One who practices this style of dance is called a b-boy, b-girl, or breaker. Although "breakdance" is a commonly used term, "b-boying" and "breaking" are preferred by the majority of the art form’s pioneers and most notable practitioners. Breaking's intense popularity started to fade in the late 1970s, but in the following decades it became an accepted dance style portrayed in commercials, movies, and print media. Parties, disco clubs, talent shows, and other public events became typical locations for breakers. Instruction in breaking techniques is now available at dance studios where hip-hop dance is taught. Today, breakers maintain a discipline somewhere between that of dancers and athletes. Terminology In the breaking documentary The Freshest Kids, figures such as KRS-One, Talib Kweli, Mos Def, and Darryl McDaniels of Run-DMC refer to the dance as "breaking". Afrika Bambaataa, Fab 5 Freddy, Michael Holman, Frosty Freeze, and Santiago "Jo Jo" Torres (cofounder of Rock Steady Crew) use the original term "b-boying". Though widespread, the term "breakdancing" is looked down upon by those immersed in hip-hop culture: *Purists consider it an ignorant term invented by the media that connotes exploitation of the art. **Crazy Legs; Rock Steady Crew: "When I first learned about the dance in ’77 it was called b-boying… by the time the media got a hold of it in like ’81, ’82, it became ‘break-dancing’ and I even got caught up calling it break-dancing too." **Action; New York City Breakers: "You know what, that’s our fault kind of… we started dancing and going on tours and all that and people would say, oh you guys are breakdancers - we never corrected them." **Jo Jo; Rock Steady Crew: "B-boy… that’s what it is, that’s why when the public changed it to ‘break-dancing’ they were just giving a professional name to it, but b-boy was the original name for it and whoever wants to keep it real would keep calling it b-boy." **Boston Globe: Lesson one: Don't call it breakdancing. Hip-hop's dance tradition, the kinetic counterpart to the sound scape of rap music and the visuals of graffiti art, is properly known as b-boying. **''Dancer Universe'': "Break dancing is a term created by the media! Once hip hop dancers gained the media’s attention, some journalists and reporters produced inaccurate terminology in an effort to present these urban dance forms to the masses. The term break dancing is a prime example of this misnomer. Most pioneers and architects of dance forms associated with hip hop reject this term and hold fast to the original vernacular created in their places of origin. In the case of break dancing, it was initially called b-boying or b-girling." *It is also problematic because breaking has become a diluted umbrella term that incorrectly includes popping, locking, and electric boogaloo. Popping, locking, and electric boogaloo are not styles of "breakdance". They are funk styles that were developed separate from breaking in California. "Breakdancer" may even be used disparagingly to refer to those who learned the dance for personal gain rather than commitment to hip-hop culture. The terms 'b-boys', 'b-girls', and 'breakers' are the correct terms used to describe the dancers. B-Boy London of New York City Breakers and Michael Holman refer to these dancers as “breakers”. Frosty Freeze of Rock Steady Crew says, “we were known as b-boys”, and Afrika Bambaataa says, “b-boys, are what you call break boys… or b-girls, what you call break girls.” In addition, Jo Jo and Mr. Freeze of Rock Steady Crew and Fab 5 Freddy use the term “b-boy”. History Elements of breaking may be seen in other antecedent cultures prior to the 1970s, but it wasn't until the '70s that breaking evolved as a street dance style. Street corner DJs would take the rhythmic breakdown sections (or "breaks") of dance records and loop them one after the other. This provided a rhythmic base for improvising and mixing, and it allowed dancers to display their skills during the break. In a turn-based showcase of dance routines, the winning side was determined by the dancer(s) who could outperform the other by displaying a set of more complicated and innovative moves. A crew is a group of b-boys/b-girls who dance together. A few of the most well known crews are the Jinjo Crew, New York City Breakers, Rock Steady Crew, Recognize Crew, Style Elements Crew, LA Breakers, Last For One, Super Cr3w, Gamblerz, Mortal Combat, Flying Steps, and Massive Monkeys. B-boy crews such as the Rock Steady Crew and the New York City Breakers changed breaking into a pop-culture phenomenon when they received a large amount of media attention by battling each other in public at the Lincoln Center in 1981. Shortly after the Rock Steady Crew came to Japan, breaking within Japan began to flourish. Each Sunday b-boys would perform breaking in Tokyo's Yoyogi Park. One of the first and most influential Japanese breakers was Crazy-A, who is now the leader of the Tokyo chapter of Rock Steady Crew. He also organizes the yearly B-Boy Park which draws upwards of 10,000 fans a year and attempts to expose a wider audience to the culture. A related dance form which influenced breaking is Uprock also called rocking or Brooklyn rock. Like toprock, uprock is also performed while standing. The difference is that uprock is a war dance that involves two dancers who mimic ways of fighting each other using mimed weaponry in rhythm with the music. This style involves moves called Yerkes (pron-en| "jerks") which are a set of motions executed to the break of a track and are where most of the battling occurs; outside of the break of a track is where the freestyle element of the dance is executed. Battles It has been stated that breaking replaced fighting between street gangs. On the contrary, some believe it a misconception that b-boying ever played a part in mediating gang rivalry. Both viewpoints have some truth. Uprock has its roots in gangs. Whenever there was an issue over turf the two warlords of the feuding gangs would uprock. Whoever won this preliminary battle would decide where the real fight would be. This is where the battle mentality in breaking and hip-hop dance in general comes from. "Sometimes a dance was enough to settle the beef, sometimes the dance set off more beef." Crew vs crew battles are common in breaking. Battles are dance competitions between two individuals or two groups of dancers who try to out-dance each other. They can be either formal or informal but both types of battles are head to head confrontations. They can take the form of a cypher battle and an organized battle. Informally b-boying began with the cypher, the name given to a circle of breakers (and casual onlookers) who take turns dancing in the center. There are no judges, concrete rules, or restrictions in the cypher, only unspoken traditions. Although participants usually freestyle (improvise) within a cypher, battling does take place. This was the origin of b-boy battles and it is often more confrontational and personal. Cypher dancing is more prevalent in communities with an emphasis on what is regarded as authentic and traditional hip-hop culture. Battling "in the cypher" is also a method of settling differences between individual dancers or crews. Organized battles set a format for competition such as a time limit or a cap on the number of participants. Organized battles also have judges, who are usually chosen based on their years of experience, level of cultural knowledge, contribution to the scene, and ability to judge in an unbiased manner. On occasion, organizers invite judges from outside the breaking community, and these events (jams) sometimes meet with disapproval from b-boys/b-girls. Organized battles are publicized to a much greater extent than informal events. They include famous international level championships such as Battle of the Year, UK B-Boy Championships, Red Bull BC One, Freestyle Session, and R-16 Korea. However, the trend in recent years to place excessive emphasis on organized battles, may detract from the spontaneous aspect of the culture that is emphasized in cypher dancing. Dance techniques There are four basic elements that form the foundation of breaking. These are toprock, downrock, power moves, and freezes/suicides. practicing downrock at a studio in Moscow.]] Toprock refers to any string of steps performed from a standing position. It is usually the first and foremost opening display of style, and it serves as a warm-up for transitions into more acrobatic maneuvers. Toprock is very eclectic and can draw upon many other dance styles. Though commonly associated with popping and locking (two elements of the funk styles that evolved independently in California during the 1970s) breaking is distinct from both, as its moves require a greater sense of athleticism—as opposed to the contortion of limbs seen in the funk styles. Breakers who wish to widen their expressive range, however, may dabble in all types of hip hop dance. Downrock (or "floorwork") includes all footwork performed on the floor, such as the foundational 6-step. It typically involves complicated contortions of the lower body, and may be as highly variable and personalized as toprock. Downrock transitions into more athletic moves known as power moves. Power Moves are actions that require momentum and physical power to execute. The breaker is generally supported by his upper body, while the rest of his body creates circular momentum. Notable examples are the windmill, swipe, head spin, and flare. Some moves are borrowed from gymnastics (such as the flare) and martial arts (such as the butterfly kick). Freezes/Suicides signal the end of a b-boy set. Freezes are stylish poses, and the more difficult require the breaker to suspend himself or herself off the ground using upper body strength in poses such as the pike. Alternatively, suicides can also signal the end to a routine. Breakers will make it appear that they have lost control and fall onto their backs, stomachs, etc. The more painful the suicide appears, the more impressive it is, but breakers execute them in a way to minimize pain. In contrast to freezes, suicides draw attention to the motion of falling or losing control, while freezes draw attention to a controlled final position. Uprock as a dance style of its own never gained the same widespread popularity as breaking, except for some very specific moves adopted by breakers who use it as a variation for their toprock. When used in a b-boy battle, opponents often respond by performing similar uprock moves, supposedly creating a short uprock battle. Some dancers argue that because uprock was originally a separate dance style it should never be mixed with breaking and that the uprock moves performed by breakers today are not the original moves but poor imitations that only shows a small part of the original uprock style. Power vs style Multiple stereotypes have emerged in the breaking community over the give-and-take relationship between technical footwork and physical prowess. Those who focus on dance steps and fundamental sharpness (but lack upper-body brawn, form, discipline, etc) are labeled as "style-heads". Specialists of more gymnastics oriented technique and form—at the cost of charisma and coordinated footwork—are known as "power-heads." Such terms are used colloquially often to classify one's skill, however, the subject has been known to disrupt competitive events where judges tend to favor a certain technique over the other. Music The musical selection for breaking is not restricted to hip-hop music as long as the tempo and beat pattern conditions are met. Breaking can be readily adapted to different music genres with the aid of remixing. The original songs that popularized the dance form borrow significantly from progressive genres of jazz, soul, funk, electro, and disco. The most common feature of b-boy music exists in musical breaks, or compilations formed from samples taken from different songs which are then looped and chained together by the DJ. The tempo generally ranges between 110 and 135 beats per minute with shuffled sixteenth and quarter beats in the percussive pattern. History credits Kool Dj Herc for the invention of this concept, later termed the breakbeat. Gender inequality Like the other aspects of hip hop, graffiti writing, MCing, and DJing, males are generally seen as the predominant gender within breaking. However, this belief is being challenged by the rapidly increasing number of b-girls. Critics argue that it is unfair to make a sweeping generalization about these inequalities because women have begun to play a larger role in the breaking scene. Despite the increasing number of female breakers, another possible barrier is lack of promotion. As Firefly, a full-time b-girl says, "It's getting more popular. There are a lot more girls involved. The problem is that promoters are not putting on enough female-only battles." More people are seeking to change the traditional image of females in hip-hop culture (and by extension, b-boy culture) to a more positive, empowered role in the modern hip hop scene. The lower exposure of female dancers is probably caused not by any conscious discrimination, but simply by there being fewer female breakers. Since there are no female divisions in breaking as there are in "official" sports, they have to compete with men on equal terms. In any "b-boy" battle, if it is a one-on-one competition or crew vs crew, b-girls attend the event as equals to the b-boys. They compete solo against other b-boys and as members of a crew alongside b-boys. All female b-girl crews battle against other breaking crews with no negative discrimination. When referencing women, the term "b-girling" is as acceptable as the term b-boying although not as widely used. Aside from the terminology, both males and females practice this art together. Media Exposure Film and television In the early 1980s, several films depicted b-boying, including Wild Style, Flashdance, Breakin', Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo, Delivery Boys, Krush Groove and Beat Street. The 1983 PBS documentary Style Wars chronicled New York graffiti artists, but also includes elements of breaking. "BreakBoy" (1985) is a view of the determination of one individual to become one of the best. The documentary film The Freshest Kids: A History of the B-Boy (2002) provides a comprehensive history of b-boying, its evolution and its place within hip-hop culture. The 2001 comedy film Zoolander depicts Zoolander (Ben Stiller) and Hansel (Owen Wilson) performing b-boy moves on a catwalk. Planet B-Boy (2007) follows crews from around the world in their quest for a world championship at Battle of the Year 2005. Break is a 2006 mini series from Korea about a breaking competition. Over the Rainbow (Drama series 2006) centers on different characters who are brought together by b-boying. The award-winning (SXSW Film Festival audience award) documentary "Inside the Circle" (2007) goes into the personal stories of three b-boys (Omar Davila, Josh "Milky" Ayers and Romeo Navarro) and their struggle to keep dance at the center of their lives. The character Mugen on the anime TV series Samurai Champloo uses a fighting style based on breaking. Pop culture *Breakdance was an 8-bit computer game by Epyx released in 1984, at the height of breaking's popularity. *B-boy (videogame) is a 2006 console game which aims at an unadulterated depiction of breaking. *Bust A Groove is a video game franchise whose character "Heat" specializes in breaking. *Pump It Up is a Korean game that requires physical movement of the feet. The game involves breaking and many people have accomplished this feat by memorizing the steps and creating dance moves to hit the arrows on time. *In 1997, Kim Soo Yong began serialization of the first breaking themed comic,Hip Hop. The comic sold over 1.5 million books and it helped to introduce breaking and hip-hop culture to Korean youth. *The first breaking themed novel, Kid B, was published by Houghton Mifflin in 2006. The author, Linden Dalecki, was an amateur b-boy in high school and directed a short documentary film about Texas b-boy culture before writing the novel. The novel evolved from Dalecki's b-boy-themed short story The B-Boys of Beaumont, which won the 2004 Austin Chronicle short story contest. *In 2005, a Volkswagen Golf GTi commercial featured a partly CGI version of Gene Kelly breaking to a new version of "Singin' in the Rain", remixed by Mint Royale. The tagline was, "The original, updated." *The first B-boy-themed novel, Kid B, was published by Houghton Mifflin in 2006. The author, Linden Dalecki, was an amateur B-boy in high school and directed a short documentary film about Texas B-boy culture before writing the novel. The novel was expanded from a B-boy-themed short story The B-Boys of Beaumont, that won the 2004 Austin Chronicle short story contest. References Category:Breakdance Category:Dance styles Category:Hip hop dance ar:بريك دانس be:Брэйк-данс bg:Брейк денс ca:Break dance cs:Breakdance da:Breakdance de:Breakdance es:Breakdance eo:Rompdancado fr:Break dance fy:Breakdance ko:브레이크 댄스 hy:Բրեյք դանս hr:Breakdance id:Breakdance it:Breakdance he:ברייקדאנס lt:Breikas nl:Breakdance ja:ブレイクダンス no:Breakdance nn:Breakdans pl:Breakdance pt:Breakdance ro:Breakdance ru:Брейк-данс simple:Breakdance sk:Break dance sl:Breakdance fi:Breakdance sv:Breakdance ta:தடை ஆட்டம் th:เบรกแดนซ์ tr:Breakdance uk:Брейкденс vi:Breakdance wo:Break dancing zh:Breaking